


The Rocket Grunt

by KingOfTheCosmos



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:35:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25743700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingOfTheCosmos/pseuds/KingOfTheCosmos
Summary: The world of Pokemon is, by all accounts a paradise where nothing goes wrong. Ever. However in this fic, we examine a potential alternate reality to the world of Pokemon where things can get a little dark. Not everyone has a perfect run through the Pokemon league that ends in a beautiful climactic and peaceful battle with the champion. Not everyone is gifted a Pokemon and sent out into the world without a care. Life in this universe isn't fair. This story follows the work and antics of a Team Rocket Grunt names Adrian Yoruha, a crafty young trainer who joined Team Rocket to take advantage of its resources and further his own career as a Pokemon trainer.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. The New Grunts

I, Adrian Yoruha became an official member of Team Rocket at the age of 11. 

It was never my goal, nor my dream to become a member of the world's most notorious criminal organization. At some point I just made the choice, and sooner than I expected, I was standing in a line with other black and grey clad recruits waiting impatiently for the admin before us to speak. I was assigned to the Hoenn branch of Team Rocket, compared to the Kanto and Johto branches, our branch wasn't very large. We didn't handle anything large scale, we were just another spot in the network of Pokemon trafficking. One look at the other five people standing beside me and you could read their motivations in an instant. Jolyne was a 15 year old girl who needed money, and it seemed like she had made peace with doing questionable things to get it. Hunter was in his late 20s, a former aspiring trainer that grew up and couldn't get a stable job. Liam was the perfect picture of a standard delinquent at 19, he was a good guy all things considered, he just had a look and personality that drew unwanted attention to himself. Veronica was a 22 year old woman with a plan, she was aiming for the high up positions and was ready and willing to use her body to make it there as soon as possible. And then there was Minerva, I called her Minnie, and she hated me for that. She was 12 years old then, with a vengeful expression that made her seem so much more intimidating.

We were all lined up waiting for the admin to give us our first orders. Back then I doubt we would have gotten along if we tried to speak to one another, but we were all there for our own reasons, and we all understood that. We didn't want to judge or be judged. Why was I there? Let's just say my Pokemon journey didn't receive the support of a rare first Pokemon and a Pokedex from an enthusiastic professor. I didn't have the money for pokeballs, potions or so on. Team Rocket had all the resources I needed, and I was going to use them. 

When the door to that room opened, I remember all of us stiffening up in line, all accept Veronica, who shifted her body to be more alluring. I was 11, so I wasn't fully invested in that yet, but I remember Veronica helping that development along back then. Anyway, our Admin wasn't like the ones you hear about, the ones that took over a radio tower in Johto a couple years back. No, he was far more lax, kept to his duties and the duties of the branch, and when he wasn't working he was taking it easy. His name was Vaughn, and he was the head Admin of Team Rocket's Hoenn branch. He had terrible posture, half opened eyes and a tired expression constantly, some of us called him Snorlax behind his back. He was in his mid 30s and it looked like he never took anything seriously in his life. I owe him my life, and I am glad he was a part of it. He walked in on his new line of recruits, lazily toting a clipboard by his hip and looking at all of us. He was silent as his lazy eyes scanned us. Back then I didn't notice how he reacted to us, looking back on it, I realize he reacted to each of us in his own way. For myself and for Minnie, he seemed particularly annoyed. I would learn why later. 

"Alright... let's get this taken care of so we can get into it." Vaughn lifted his clipboard up and looked down at the documents. He slid a pen from his pocket, and set it at the ready. "Welcome to the first day of your new lives as Team Rocket members." His delivery was so static and unmotivated that we could even tell he wasn't invested in what was written. "As new members, you are subject to a physical examination, which has been performed."

"I wouldn't mind a second one, if you'll be doing the examining." Veronica winked at him. 

"I'm sure you wouldn't." He responded without looking up from the clipboard.

"In the larger branches, all members will be accepted if they meet the preliminary requirements, regardless if they have a Pokemon or not. However, since we are a small transfer branch with a small capture team, new recruits are required to have at least one Pokemon for their own use. You all fill this requirement, but for record purposes, I'm going to go down the line and ask you all what Pokemon you possess. Don't lie, I'm good at picking up on lies, and if I think you're lying I have to make you pull out your Pokemon. Just tell the truth so we get this moving along. You, girl with the concerned expression with regret, what Pokemon have you got?" Vaughn gestured toward Jolyne and looked lazily at his clipboard. 

Jolyne, who was staring at the ground, suddenly looked up, startled. "Oh! Um, I have a whismur." 

"Whismur." Vaughn wrote something down on his clipboard. "Crushed dreams, you're up." 

Hunter's face scrunched up, offended and saddened by his words, already angered and defeated in an instant. "I have a Ninjask and a Shedinja" 

"Not bad, we'll make sure you learn how to use them." Vaughn said, writing on the clip board. Hunter clicked his tongue and stood silent in line until we were dismissed later. "Okay, next up we got this difficult customer here," He pointed his pen at Liam. 

"I'm not that difficult." Liam whined in response. His scowl looked aggressive, even if he wasn't trying to be. 

"Just tell me what Pokemon you have." Vaughn was hurrying him along. 

"I gotta geodude and a nosepass." Liam answered with a shrug. 

"Geodude and nosepass. Boy we've gotta line up here." He mumbled as he scribbled words onto his clipboard. "How about you, the woman wearing a uniform one size too small."

Veronica kept a sexy smile on her face at the time, but I swear I saw the corner of her mouth twitch just a little bit. "Well, I've got a zubat and a darling little roselia." she pulled out a pokeball and pressed her cheek into it an overly affectionate manner. 

"Zubat and roselia. Okay." Vaughn scribbled more words down. When he reached Minnie and I, he stopped and let out a noticeable sigh, but didn't make any remarks beyond that. "What Pokemon do you have?"

"I have Dollie, she's a shuppet." That was the first time I heard Minnie's voice. It was calm and reserved, but there was a hollow tone that spoke volumes of what when on in her head. We were all visibly uncomfortable after we heard her speak. Everyone except Vaughn. 

"Well, Dollie the shuppet sounds nice." Vaughn calmly wrote down that information on his clipboard. Half way through, he stopped, his head didn't move but his eyes shifted towards Minnie. "What reason do you have for joining Team Rocket?"

We all looked at Minnie in that moment, all vaguely curious. She continued staring forward blankly as she answered. "Dollie and I are going to get strong, you're useful if you're strong." It was the only she would give back then, and Vaughn knew that. 

"I see, well, we'll get to work on that." he answered, and then directed his attention to me. "Your Pokemon, kid?" he asked with a tone similar to the one he spoke to Minnie with. 

"I have a poochyena." I said to him. Immediately I heard Veronica snicker and Hunter click his tongue. The others didn't seem impressed either. Well it made sense. Poochyena may be rare in most places, but in the Hoenn region, we were lousy with them and mightyena. I didn't care though, Yena was my Pokemon and I loved him more than anything else. 

"A poochyena, not too fancy, but thankfully bein fancy doesn't suit Team Rocket." Vaughn smirked and wrote down poochyena as my only pokemon at the time."

The rest of our introduction was robotic and standard, we were given a brief overview of our new duties as recruits, that being transport and delivery of the different assets we received in transit. Occasionally we would be form capture teams if requests from larger branches came in, or if a particularly rare or valuable Pokemon was sighted nearby. One thing rang true about Team Rocket, no matter what branch it was, we were all opportunists, whenever something interesting happened, we wanted to be first on the scene to take what we could find. But the Hoenn branch was more careful about our reconnaissance, we were a small branch and we didn't wield nearly as much power as the other branches. Most law enforcement was preoccupied with Team Aqua and Magma at the time, up until the Sootopolis disaster. We didn't want to leave evidence that we were operating out of the Hoenn region, otherwise Interpol might have come knocking our doors down. 

Once our introduction was done, Vaughn instructed us to follow him, and we followed after him. He lead us deeper into the base. On the outside, it appeared as a simple farm on the outskirts of Oldale town. It was actually tended to and manned as a regular farm. Farming was tough in the Hoenn region, most of it is ocean and places affected by volcanic activity. As such, farm grown food was in fairly high demand, so we were able to hide our operations within a legitimate business, as was the Rocket way. The entrance to our base was inside the farm house basement, underneath a trapdoor. The base was a small underground complex no bigger than a public school. From what we could tell, Team Rocket was quick and efficient at moving into places and making secret underground hideouts. While we followed Admin Vaughn, we passed by several storage rooms and labs, I caught a glimpse of Team Rocket scientists studying an Eevee in a lab, from what I could tell they had an IV/EV reader. That's not impressive these days, but back then you could only analyze a Pokemon's IV/EVs with special equipment or a Pokedex, if you were lucky enough to get your hands on one. It was at that moment that I knew I was right to go there. Team Rocket's resources would be what I needed to go further as a trainer. Technology, technical machines, information, Pokeballs and other Pokemon, they had what I needed. The plan was to put in my time until I could get out, then my journey as a trainer would begin for real, and I wouldn't need anyone's help.

Admin Vaughn led us to a large open gymnasium with thick metal walls designed to contain and support Pokemon battles. There were seats and a battle arena with artificial terrain. It was almost like a school gym class, but everything was sleek and parts of the wall were rusting, like a Unovan school. We all looked at the gym, wondering what he was going to ask of us and having a good idea simultaneously. Admin Vaughn turned towards the six of us and lifted his clipboard up, resting it on his shoulder. 

"Alright, before we assign you all to different areas, we gotta know where you all are at battle wise. We need to know who's capable of completing what job, and who will be helping with said job." Admin Vaughn explained, walking towards the seats. "We're gonna have ourselves a little tournament, a little Pokemon League of our own. "I'm just gonna get you all sorted." 

Admin Vaughn sat down and scribbled a shitty diagram on his clipboard. "Because it was the easiest way to organize for me, we're gonna go ladies vs gents." He smirked. "We got ourselves a little theme here, like a real tournament, ha ha." 

We all waited for him to call the first of us to the arena, unsure of what we needed to prove, but sure of what we needed to do. We may have been Rocket Grunts, but deep down we were all Pokemon Trainers, the thrill of battle sent an energy into our blood that began to fill the room. We waited and listened in anticipation for Vaughn to tell us who would be fighting first, and immediately our eyes darted around, our gazes met and we all knew no matter what, no one would leave this room until 5 of us had lost and one was the sole winner. 

"Round one: Hunter vs. Jolyne, get in the ring!"


	2. Hunter Vs. Jolyne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Rocket Grunts gather and watch as the first round of battles begins. Hunter, the despondent former trainer vs Jolyne the reluctant criminal face off in a battle to see who is an isn't capable of performing the tasks assigned to them by Admin Vaughn.

"Round one: Hunter vs. Jolyne, get in the ring!" Admin Vaughn called from the seats. 

There was a collective sigh from all of us. Veronica, Liam, Minnie and I sighed with minor disappointment, we hoped to be the first ones chosen, but were satisfied with the fact that we would get our chance later. Hunter and Jolyne, however sighed with some anxiety. The pressure of being the first battlers clearly weighed on them. Not only were they the first to fight, both of them suffered from their own personal anxieties. Hunter was a former trainer who fell out of confidence in his battling ability, and couldn't succeed in getting a job. Jolyne was the type of person who battled before but ultimately didn't take it too seriously, the only reason she was here with us was because she needed the money desperately. I didn't ask why then, I didn't care. Looking back, that's what she needed back then, someone who cared. I wish I was one of those people then. The two of them made their way to the arena, standing on opposite sides. The rest of us sat in the seats on the side, waiting and watching in anticipation for the battle to begin. We watched with bated breath as the two retrieved a pokeball from their sides and and raised their arms into the air.

"Shedinja! Come on out!" Hunter called.

"Let's do it, Aria!" Jolyne called out. 

The balls flew into the air and a rain of light splashed onto the battle field. Where the light reached, two Pokemon appeared, one facing the other. The first, a levitating Pokemon that emanated and sinister aura, a mystery of the modern Pokemon world with countless myths and legends that made it a popular story to tell around a campfire. Shedinja, the shed Pokemon, and whismur, the whisper Pokemon.

A unique aspect of certain bug Pokemon is the creation and discarding of different shells and cocoons when they evolve. When the Pokemon nincada evolves, it discards its old carapace and rises as the Pokemon ninjask. However, it has been noted that when that empty space is discarded, "something" fills it. The discarded shell then rises, it has no wings, no brain, no heartbeat, nothing to signify it is alive. Even as far as ghost Pokemon go, Shedinja is a strange and sinister Pokemon. Nevertheless, it is a Pokemon, and many have made use of its "unique" abilities. 

The Pokemon whismur isn't anything special or rare, especially in the Hoenn region. It not particularly strong and neither are its evolved forms, but it boasts a large move diversity and is often immune to sound based attacks like supersonic, sing and uproar. 

Those thoughts ran through my head as a I watched their Pokemon grace the field, and I wondered how everything would play out in this battle. 

"Aria! Use pound!" Jolyne called out. 

The little pink Pokemon made a barely audible squeak in response and ran toward its opponent. Due to its small stature, it moved nimbly but wasn't very fast. A Pokemon like shedinja would have no trouble dodging the attack if it wanted to. But it made no attempt to do so, and Hunter didn't command it to do so either. Everyone watched as Aria, Jolyne's whismur dashed forward and leaped into the air with a surprising energy, it raised its little hand into the air above its head and slammed it into the the other Pokemon's torso. There was a pathetic sounding slapping noise but otherwise, nothing happened, shedinja didn't even react. Even then, Minnie and I knew exactly why at that moment, but it was quite the shock to Liam and Jolyne.

"What? It didn't work? Come on, Aria, hit it harder!" Jolyne called. "Use pound again!" 

The tiny pink ball attempted to strike the levitating husk of a Pokemon once more. There was another slapping sound, but no reaction, from Hunter or shedinja. We all watched as whismur unleashed a barrage of pound attacks but the Pokemon shedinja didn't react whatsoever. 

"Alright, if that won't work, then use Disarming Cry!" Jolyne commanded weakly. 

The small whismur took in a deep breath and let out a startling cry from its little body. Everyone in jumped in their seats slightly, but Hunter's shedinja remained unmoved. Most of us weren't surprised when pound didn't work, but we were all surprised when disarming voice didn't work. Everyone except Admin Vaughn, of course. We all fell silent, waiting to see what would happen next, and watched as a small smirk crept up on Hunter's face like a spider up the wall. 

"Ha, I can't blame you for not knowing much about shedinja, but you didn't even know enough about ghosts types here." He gloated. "Normal moves don't work on ghost types, that's basic type knowledge that any good trainer has to know, you didn't do a lot of battling before you came here, did you?" 

He pointed directly at Jolyne, who grimaced and held her tongue, unsure of what to do next. She wracked her brain for a moment, thinking of a comeback and unsure what to do next, for a moment it looked like she wanted to give up. 

"Wait, but disarming voice is a fairy type move, it should have done something!" She retorted. She was right, and all of us were wondering the same thing as we looked for Hunter's response. 

"You're right, it should have worked, but it didn't but I don't plan on tell you why." Hunter said smugly. He had quite the haughty attitude considering the reasons he was joining Team Rocket. 

We all let out a collective sigh of annoyance when he stated that, wanting an explanation for his shedinja's invulnerability. But he just stood smugly and looked proud of himself, as if he was reliving some nostalgic mood that had been lost to him for years. He could have taken several attacks by then but he just wanted to sit and gloat as if he had already won the match. 

"I haven't felt this good since I was a Bug Catcher. Alright, shedinja, we've dragged this on for too long, use scratch!" he called toward the ghostly bug. 

Shedinja darted toward Aria the whismur in an eerie pattern, one couldn't tell how it moved outside of levitation, even then it looked strange. It appeared before the whismur and raked its claw across the pink Pokemon's form. It let out a pathetic cry in response. 

"Aria! Don't worry, we've got this!" Jolyne looked unsure of herself, but determined not to let Hunter's words get to her. 

"I admire your dedication and your spirit, but face the facts, as you are, you and that whismur-"

"Aria, astonish it!" Jolyne called out, interrupting Hunter. 

"Wait what!?" Hunter shouted back. 

We all watched as Jolyne's weak looking little whismur curl in its face, hiding it behind its ears and stubby arms. An instant later, it thrusted its face forward and shouted, letting out a haunting cry in the shedinja's face. The eerie looking bug Pokemon's eyes suddenly went wide and we all watched as it fell to the floor. It sounded like an empty container hitting the floor as the empty shell of a Pokemon lay motionless there. Hunter's left eye twitched as he stood, stunned and mortified at his current predicament. His gaze fixed on the motionless shedinja for a moment, before moving to us. I could tell he was looking for our eyes to be filled with judgement and contempt. He found it. After all that talk, we watched him lose to an opponent in one turn, to a Pokemon he prided as being unbeatable to Jolyne's whismur. 

"Ha, ha ha ha..." he laughed weakly. 

"Well, that answers some questions." Admin Vaughn said, scribbling something down on his clipboard. 

As the battle ended, Jolyne and her whismur seemed as surprised as we were, more surprising was what occurred moments after. A glowing light enveloped Jolyne's whismur in a grand display. Whatever level of experience Hunter's shedinja was at the time, its defeat had been enough to push Aria the whismur to the level of experience to undergo its natural metamorphosis, its evolution. The form of the whismur expanded, its ears stood up on end and reshaped themselves. The stubby little arms it wielded moments ago grew larger and more defined, fingers grew out. Standing now, where Aria the whismur once was, Aria the loudred stood, ready to fight. We all watched in silence, still reeling from what we all just witnessed, unsure of what just happened from the moment Jolyne tried to use disarming voice on Hunter's shedinja. While Jolyne was celebrating, cheering and hugging her newly evolved Pokemon, we turned toward Admin Vaughn, the only person with some semblance of understanding. We hoped to get an answer to what the hell just happened. He looked up from his clipboard and at our expectant gazes.

"Hah.." Vaughn sighed. "Shedinja has an ability called Wonder Guard. Only moves that are super effective cause damage. The trade off is that shedinja always falls in one hit if it breaks through Wonder Guard."

After his brief explanation he looked back down at his clipboard. We were able to figure out the other details from there, but the lackluster explanation reduced our intrigue in the current situation to almost nothing. We leaned back in our seats and looked back into the arena. Jolyne was hugging her new loudred while Hunter was holding his face with his hands. Unimpressed, Admin Vaughn waved to Hunter in the arena.

"Alright Hunter, bring out the next Pokemon." He called. 

Jolyne paused, she held her loudred and looked over to Admin Vaughn, Hunter did the same. 

"What?" She asked, confused. 

"You know how a Pokemon battle is, fight until one side is out of usable Pokemon. This isn't a league game, its not a one on one." He answered. 

"But, I only have one Pokemon." Jolyne looked concerned. 

"I know." Admin Vaughn responded. 

A couple of us looked concerned as we understood what kind of battles we would be put through. Some were less concerned than others, I was nervous. I was only 11 and I had one Pokemon, a Poochyena no less. Depending on who ended up as my opponent, things could go very poorly for me. 

Hunter slapped himself on the cheeks a couple times, he shook the moping attitude from his face and stood up straight again. He reached for the second Pokeball at his waist and swung it around. In a flash of light, the second member of Hunter's team appeared on the field. A much more lively insectoid Pokemon that resembled the Pokemon that was just defeated. Ninjask, a speedy insect Pokemon that was the direct evolution of the Pokemon nincada. 

"Alright Aria, we did it once, we can do it again. Hit em with an Uproar!" Jolyne called towards her new loudred.

The significantly louder Pokemon unleashed a loud torrent of sound that shook the arena and made all of us cover our ears. The destructive soundwaves that erupted from Aria's body seemed to shake the whole room, but it may have just been shaking us in our seats. Hunter's ninjask, took the brunt of the attack initially, being sent flying backwards away from the loudred. But its mastery of flight was demonstrated as it corrected itself mid air and hovered in a stable position 10 feet away from the loudred. Hunter's hands were clasped over his ears as the blasting waves of sound continued, through the noise he shouted out a move command to his Pokemon.

"NINJASK, urgh! USE FURY CUTTER!" He was shouting as loud as he could to make sure ninjask could hear him. 

The insect like Pokemon heard its trainers commands, and with rapid speed, darted towards the shouting loudred, delivering a precise and quick attack the other Pokemon. Aria's expression seemed concerned momentarily, but otherwise the attack didn't seem to do much at that time, and she continued making an uproar. It turned its attention back to the ninjask and let loose another powerful blast of sound that made the air shift. The attack impacted the carapace of ninjask and sent it back briefly. However this time, ninjask corrected its flight path more rapidly, and I could have swore then that I saw its wings flapping even faster than before. I didn't know it at the time, and I would learn soon after, that ninjask has an ability called "Speed Boost", the longer it remains in battle, the faster it becomes. 

"DOUBLE TEAM" Hunter called out then. 

The ninjask's form began to shift and take rabidly, vibrating so quickly that it was hard to tell what I was looking at. That's when the second ninjask appeared on the field, a mirage designed to trick opponents into missing their opponent with an afterimage. Double team is a common enough move that even then, I understood what was happening, but that's when I learned a nifty trick. The faster a Pokemon is, the more convincing its double team clones are. The two perceivable images of ninjask hovered around Aria the loudred in a hypnotic pattern, moving in such a way to trick and confuse the other Pokemon and make it anxious. It was impressive, you could tell that Hunter had used this Pokemon for some time, and developed strategies around it. Aria the loudred continued to unleash its powerful uproar at the two ninjasks, it chose a target and fired a blast of sound towards it. The after image shook slightly but it was unaffected by the attack. 

"DOUBLE TEAM AGAIN!" Hunter coughed, shouting that much was hurting his throat. 

The two ninjask's forms shifted once more, and now four convincing images of ninjask darted through the air around loudred in a perfectly timed pattern. Aria looked around it, unsure of what to do, at that moment, the uproar ceased, and the room no longer rang with an oppressive sound. We all took our hands from our ears, our heads still ringing. I looked over to my left and saw that Liam and left his seat. Part of me wanted to check on him, but I was too enthralled by the match happening in front of me, and the incredible technique of Hunter's ninjask. Hunter gave another command to his ninjask, but his hearing was still a little messed up.

"NINJASK, USE- sorry. Use the fury cutter barrage!" He called out.

One of the hovering ninjasks darted towards Aria the loudred, who instinctively raised its arms to defend itself. As the ninjask approached it, claw raised and ready to strike, it passed by the loudred without making contact. Aria was confused for a moment and looked toward the ninjask who seemed to have missed. In that moment, the real ninjask darted behind Aria and raked its claw across her back. It immediately rejoined the afterimages that continued to float around the loudred and disappeared into the pattern. almost immediately after, another ninjask darted towards Aria, and the loudred attempted to defend itself, but that one was also a fake. Aria then turned around as another ninjask darted towards her, expecting it to be the real one, but this second one was also false. The real ninjask took this opportunity to leave a deeper gash on the loudred's leg. The speed at which this all occurred was mesmerizing, the way the ninjask and its afterimages moved was calculated, hypnotic and almost perfect. And because of its speed boost ability, it was only getting faster and near impossible to follow where the real ninjask was. The fake ninjasks continued blind assaults towards the loudred, making it twist and turn itself to quickly try and face where the next opponent would be coming. 

"Come on Aria, use pound on it!" Jolyne called out.

Aria the loudred attempted to obey her trainer's command, she swung directly at the oncoming ninjask with all her might but went right through it. The afterimages of ninjask continued to dart around Aria and she tried her best to strike the real one, but every time she tried, her attack would pass through an afterimage of the real ninjask. And every time Aria showed and opening, the real ninjask would dart by and a new gash would appear somewhere on her body. Each time, the wound grew deeper and bled a little more. 

"What's going on? that attack wasn't that strong before." Veronica asked, referring to the repeated use of the move fury cutter. 

"Fury cutter gets stronger the more times you use it in a row." I responded passively, my eyes were still glued on the fight. 

"And how the hell do you know that?" she asked me in a condescending tone. 

"It's a simple bug type move. Most trainers know about it." I responded. 

"Well maybe some _don't_ " Veronica's words stung like potent venom, but I was too busy enjoying myself to care about her intimidation tactics. 

Gash after gash continued to appear on the loudred's body and as the match continued, Jolyne looked more and more concerned for her Pokemon, trying to figure out what to do now. But before she could make a decision, Aria collapsed. Splatters of its blood lay on the floor around its now unconscious body, but they were ultimately shallow wounds. It was over, Aria the loudred had fainted, Jolyne was out of usable Pokemon, Hunter was the winner. 

"Ding ding ding... we have a winner." Admin Vaughn said, scribbling more notes down. 

The ninjask's afterimages disappeared and the Pokemon darted over towards Hunter, who let out a deep sigh of relief. 

"Good going old friend, it's been awhile but you've still got it." Hunter told ninjask. 

Hunter held his fist out towards ninjask, the pokemon raised its claw and gently pounded it atop Hunter's fist and Hunter then did the same. Since the battle had ended, I looked around at the others, and remembered that Liam had disappeared during the second half of the fight. When I turned to look for him, I saw him at the edge of the seating area hunched over the side puking his guts out. Working with certain Pokemon types, you get used to seeing some nasty stuff, but the smell of vomit is always sickening. Once the others had noticed most of them made a similar expression and tried to look away. Admin Vaughn seemed annoyed by the new mess.

"Rocket Grunt Liam, I was gonna have your fight next, are you done?" He asked. 

Liam weakly lifted his head and wiped his mouth with his arm. His face was pale and sickly. 

"Ugh, sorry man, its just... between all that noise and all those moving bugs... mmmph" He covered his mouth and turned back to the slowly growing pile of vomit nearby. 

We all looked away and tried to pretend the new splattering noise wasn't happening. Thankfully he managed to vomit near a vent that was blowing the smell away from the rest of us. 

"Well, since Mr. Tough Guy over there can't hold his lunch, we're gonna move to the third bout next." Admin Vaughn began. 

"Round two: Veronica vs Adrian, get in the ring!"


	3. Veronica Vs. Adrian

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first battle has concluded with Hunter remaining as the winner. Jolyne and her newly evolved loudred Aria face a somber defeat, but gain a significant boost in confidence. Hunter and his Pokemon rekindle a lost love for battling and prepare for their next fight. Due to some stomach problems, Liam stands aside, mopping up his own mess and pushing Veronica and Adrian into the next match.

"Round two: Veronica vs Adrian, get in the ring!" Admin Vaughn called out. 

It took me a moment back then to realize I was being called on for a battle. At that time my experience with trainer battles was far more limited than it is today. Back then I was used to an entirely different style of battling than the one I had adopted around that time. Strategies and approaches to battling were built around an entirely different Pokemon philosophy. This was the first trainer battle where I employed that battle style, and I was definitely nervous. Especially considering how intimidating my opponent was. Veronica was a kiss ass who like to use her body to get ahead, a strategy I could appreciate all things considered. But our personal interactions left us with a less than good understanding of one another. That didn't change until a little bit after the Sootopolis incident, but I'll get to that later. 

When Admin Vaughn called us out to the arena, Veronica stood up with a flowing grace and beauty that was impressive. But as she put her foot down, she twisted her body and shifted her stance in a manner that seemed equally as intimidating. I froze momentarily back then, and slowly looked up to look her in the eyes. She looked down on me with a sinister gaze and an unsettling smile. Even as a child I could sense that this woman wanted to toy with me in a sinister manner. I didn't know why, even to this day I'm not sure. Maybe it was because I acted smarter than her watching that last battle. Maybe it was because she just didn't like children. Or maybe it was just because I had the misfortune of being assigned as her opponent. It was an interaction that lasted only 5 seconds but it felt much longer than that back then. After that, she stepped away from the rest of the seats and strode toward the left side of the field, passing by Hunter and taking his spot. I had to shake off the hesitation from that moment, and found myself jogging towards past Jolyne, and taking her place across the field from Veronica. Instinctively, the two of us both took our trainer stances. Veronica's stance was well practiced, her body shifted pressing a confident chest forward and looking directly with a fierce glare and sinister smile. A stance designed to inject a cold terror into you, and as an 11 year old boy who was still unsettled by joining a global crime syndicate, I can say it worked pretty fucking well. My stance was a bit more rickety, the stance I took instinctively was a lot more aggressive, I brought my arms up and shifted my feet into a strong stance. It was a remnant of my old style, and as soon as I recognized it then, I dropped the stance and corrected myself. It was an undecided stance then, similar to my current one, but undeveloped. I stood up straight and positioned myself standing sideways and looking at the battlefield. A trainer's stance is reflective of themselves and their style, changing one's stance is bigger thing than a lot of people think.

Though her glare seemed to seep into my mind and poison my composure, I held my sly pose and hid my unease behind an unfazed expression. But my novice ability let her see right through me there. We both raised our Pokeballs and held them up, opposed to one another. It was like a showdown in a western. Finally, with a rush of energy we shifted our bodies and pulled back our Pokeballs then launching them forward into the air above the arena. Light cascaded from the Pokeballs onto the arena and the light adjusted into the forms of our Pokemon. On my side, my beloved partner, a poochyena named Yena. Yes, I know the name wasn't very creative, I was a kid, fuckin bite me. On the other side, Veronica released a smaller, lighter Pokemon that flew through flapped its bat-like wings in the air. Her Zubat, affectionately referred to as Zuzu, flew opposed to my and Yena. Yena put his paws forward and growled, yipping aggressively at the opponent before us, we were both in the fight, a boy and his dog Pokemon, it was almost poetic. 

"Hey Kid," Veronica called out to me. "...don't quit if things seem too scary, this is a test remember?" She pointed towards me with a friendly smile. 

Even with that layer of pseudo friendliness, I couldn't help but feel unsettled by Veronica. Whatever motivated her to say that didn't come from a place of concern or friendliness. If I had to guess, she might have really wanted to make a show of stomping me. 

"My name is Adrian." I responded, calmly, hiding my true feelings.

"Like I give a fuck. Zuzu, hit this kid's little mutt with a wing attack!" She called out. 

"Oh no! Yena!" I tried to warn him, but the zubat darted past Yena and delivered a strong wing attack. Yena was pushed backward, he held his paws and legs still and kept on his feet, he was a tough little guy. Yena and I had been together for some time, but our experience battling together was... minimal until just recently before joining Team Rocket. However one easily tell that Veronica and Zuzu had more time together. Not to mention she had a second Pokemon on her. By all accounts it was an unfair match, but Team Rocket didn't care. I knew back then that what was I'd have to deal with. What is defined as fair in via Pokemon league rules isn't universally applicable. That was why I ended up at Team Rocket in the first place. I wanted to even the odds.

"Yena! Use sand-attack!" I called out.

Yena spun around in places and began kicking dirt, sand and dust at the flying zubat. A small dirt cloud formed on the ground after the attack. In my young naivete I expected that to be enough, but Veronica then showed me why it isn't a good idea to trust every move at face value. 

"Give the little pooch a love bite, Zuzu" She called out. 

Zuzu darted towards Yena, unaffected by the sand attack in the slightest. Yena attempted to dodge the attack but I watched as the teeth sank into Yena's back. Thankfully bite was not very effective on a dark type Pokemon like Yena. It seemed like Veronica was trying to send a message with that attack. 

"Hey Kid, you look like you don't know much, so I'll be kind and let you know what happened." Veronica began. She pointed directly at me with her fierce gaze. "Sand attack didn't work on Zuzu because zubat don't have eyes, they perceive everything based on hypersensitive echolocation. They can see where your Pokemon is, what its doing and what to avoid easily." 

When I heard her explanation I grew more nervous. Zubat is a fairly weak Pokemon by all accounts but in a battle like this, with only one Pokemon, I was still concerned. While Veronica stood there, relishing her sense of superiority and gloating, my mind raced think of a plan, and that's when it hit me.

"Yena! Keep using sand attack!" I called out.

Yena obeyed immediately, spinning around once more to kick more dirt and sand into the air around ZuZu. 

"Did you not hear me? it doesn't matter how much sand you throw at Zuzu, it isn't going to work." It was almost a repeat of Hunter's arrogant speech from the previous match, except Veronica wasn't stupid. 

After seeing what happened to Hunter last match, she was still on guard. I could tell she was wracking her brain for a weakness she hadn't considered. If Hunter had commanded his shedinja to attack instead of getting cocky, he might have won the match before Jolyne surprised him with that astonish attack. But she wouldn't find it with my strategy, because she didn't consider that I was exploiting something she thought was a strength. 

"Hey kid, answer me. What are you trying to pull here. You're just kicking up a dust cl-" Veronica's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. But by that point it was too late.

A sizable cloud of dust had been built up by Yena's onslaught of sand attacks, one that was almost as large as the battlefield and had completely absorbed both Yena and Zuzu. The little bat Pokemon flapped its wings lightly in the dust cloud, and it looked around, confused by something. 

"Zuzu! Get out of there! Hurry!" She tried to warn. 

"Yena! Use Howl! Now!" I shouted just in time. 

From within the dust cloud, I heard Yena's howl begin to ring out. It was something I decided to try after watching Aria use uproar in the last battle. Yena's howl is far less abrasive on our ears, but for Zuzu, it would be much worse, thanks to the dust cloud. Yena had kicked up various different sand and dirt particles that were currently floating around in the form of a dust cloud. I had taken a gamble on this strategy, but considering how concerned Veronica was at that moment, it seemed to be worth the risk. Zuzu's echolocation senses were incredibly precise, so much so that Zuzu could probably perceive the cloud of dust just as we could. The problem, for the zubat, was how it perceived the cloud. Echolocation method of perception relies on sensing the sounds that reflect off of objects. And with all those particles flying around, the sound waves reflecting off of them were more than enough to distract and stall Zuzu. As Veronica said moments ago, zubat's echolocation is incredibly sensitive, from the mere sound of it flapping its own wings, it could pick up the location of the dust cloud. But all the noise reflecting off of the sand around it was akin to setting off flash right in front of someone with 8 eyes. The zubat floated helplessly in the air, twisting and turning its body trying to get a better bearing on its surroundings.

"You little shit." Veronica cursed me from across the field. "Zuzu! flap your wings harder! get that cloud away from you!"

Zuzu did as he was commanded, he began to flap his wings with a stronger intensity and goal than before, and the dust cloud started to dissipate. However, Yena was still hiding in the cloud, and still howling. It was time to make our move. 

"Yena! Thunder Fang!" I called out. 

The sand cloud seemed to shift on the right, behind Zuzu, and silhouette leaped into the air, breaking the surface of the cloud and launching itself right at the zubat. Yena's snout opened up and his tiny fangs crackled with light and sparks. I didn't command Yena where to bite Zuzu, but I have to admit, he chose the perfect spot. Yena held enough of a grudge to aim for Zuzu's back approximately the same spot that Zuzu had bitten Yena before. I didn't know the little guy was capable of holding a grudge then, but I was all for it. Yena's thunder fang was a fairly strong move, and besides being super effective on a flying type like Zubat, Yena's howl had powered up his attack. It was no surprise to me, that the move had knocked out Zuzu in one attack. The little bat Pokemon fell to the ground, its body still sparking from the sudden jolt it received from Yena. Thunder fang's brutality comes from using the bite aspect of the attack to pierce the other Pokemon's body to deliver the electric energy of the attack. It was especially devastating to a Pokemon with a small body like Zubat.

Veronica's venomous smile disappeared. Her glare remained but this time it was accompanied by a frightening scowl. She looked as though she wanted to wring my neck like a towel. While Hunter handled the defeat of his first Pokemon poorly with a twinge of shame due to his previously cocky talk, Veronica was furious. She was pissed beyond belief at what had just happened. It seemed like she was angry because I was a kid and not because of actually losing a Pokemon, though she didn't seem happy with that either. She held out the empty Pokeball in her hand and commanded the fainted zubat to return. The Pokeball blasted a beam of light out that captured the form of Zuzu and absorbed it back into its ball.

"You think you've won? you little shit?" She asked. "I'm going to make you pay for what you did to Zuzu, you and that little mutt of yours." 

She reached back down to her belt and pulled out another Pokeball, the way she held the ball before us was concerning. Even after all that we had done to her last Pokemon, she was completely confident in her next Pokemon's ability to defeat us. Based on what she had told us before, I already knew it was a roselia. Yena's howls had strengthened him, but he had also taken damage already, and unlike Jolyne's Aria, Yena still wasn't ready to evolve. It was still anyone's game, and I had no idea how strong Veronica's roselia was.

"Rita! be a dear and come deliver some pain for me!" Veronica tossed her Pokeball underhanded into the air. 

The ball sailed up and cracked open, a flash of light rained down onto the battlefield once more and Rita the roselia took the stage. You can tell a lot about a trainer by who their partner Pokemon is, if they have one anyway. Looking at Veronica and Rita back then, the two seemed like a perfect match. Roselia was a Pokemon known to be an absolute beauty of a Pokemon the produces calm, entrancing aromas. But the thorns on its head held a deadly poison that could kill a mamoswine in minutes. Many poison-type Pokemon can be more dangerous that one would think, they have a level of poise and control that keeps them being more destructive than they could be. That's why even incidents involving poisoned Pokemon or people don't often end in disaster and are often easily treated. But if a poison type Pokemon was desperate enough, or following the commands of a sinister enough person, they could easily be the most dangerous Pokemon around. That's why I was so afraid of that Pokemon back then. Veronica was very angry with me, and could have been more dangerous than I knew, she had joined Team Rocket after all. It was hypocritical considering I had also joined them, but I was a scared kid then. 

As the rose Pokemon moved daintily across the battlefield into place, Yena and I stared at it. I formulated a plan while Yena watched its every move, his sense of smell was powerful enough to easily tell him the kind of danger Rita could be. Unlike Zuzu, there wasn't a secret move Yena could use that would be super-effective. And on top of that, this roselia looked like it could easily handle taking a hit better than Zuzu the zubat could. And on top of that, we didn't know what moves this Pokemon had in its arsenal. It felt foolish to simply jump in an attack, so I decided to prepare. 

"Yena, use howl!" I commanded. 

Yena lifted his snout to the air and began to howl, the move focusing his energy into his own ferocity. As he stood there, howling, I looked to Veronica, waiting for her to give her first command to Rita and figure out how to work around it. However, as I watched my opponent across the battlefield, there was a flash of movement from Yena's opponent, Rita. I turned my head too late to give him a proper warning as Rita made her first strike. The little rose Pokemon's rose-like appendages began to darken a purple hue and a concentrated ball of poison shot out it. The sludge bomb was launched direct at where Yena was standing. I called out desperately, thankfully Yena's instincts kicked in and he saved himself from some real pain. Unfortunately, even though he had managed to move out of the sludge bomb's targeted area, the ball of sludge exploded once it made contact with the ground, forming a puddle of liquid poison and spraying onto Yena's body. He let out a small yelp and I felt my heart stop momentarily. Thankfully, while the poison had definitely hurt him, he was still in the fight, though just barely. 

"What just happened?" I asked, wondering why her Roselia had attacked like that without receiving a command from Veronica.

"I'll tell you once I put you and that dog down, for now." She smiled. 

I was terrified, without a command it was much harder to know what move the Pokemon would use next and how to plan around it. When fighting wild Pokemon, a trainer has to be prepared for what it might have at its disposal, but wild Pokemon can't strategize like a trainer can, and are often unable to make as much use out of their moves as a trained Pokemon. Being presented with a trained Pokemon who's next move you have no way to prepare for is fearsome, especially for a rookie. Looking at Yena, and unable to read what Veronica was going to do, I was ready to throw in the towel then and there, but then it hit me. A surge of realization entered my mind, and I decided to take a gamble. Veronica must have trained her roselia to perform certain commands even if she didn't telegraph the move. There are few Pokemon that are capable of performing a complex series of moves without any form of command from its trainer. And since Veronica hadn't given one, it was possible that all her roselia would do, was the same move it had previously. 

"No need, its just going to keep sludge bombing us until you tell it otherwise, right?" I asked. 

"You're smart, kid. Yeah, Rita's real smart, so I taught her that if unless I say otherwise, that its a safe bet to just use sludge bomb as she pleases. Every time." She said proudly. "So you know. But so what? Knowing that isn't going to help you much is it?"

She was right. Even though I was onto her strategy, it wasn't like it was going to help me in this case, I had to buy more time to think. Veronica looked me dead in the eye from across the arena and smirked. Looked like she saw right through me, and turned to Rita. 

"Why don't we speed this up, Rita darling?" she said.

The roselia known as Rita nodded and held its roses up into the air towards Yena, its flowers turned a darker purple hue and I had to think fast. I didn't know where it would fire, and if it was even possible for Yena to dodge another attack. But I did know Yena and what he was capable of beyond that, so, while I vied for time, I gave Yena a command to help him stay out of danger.

"Yena! Run Away!" I called. 

Yena jumped from his prepared stance and spun around on the spot, his paws slammed into the ground beneath him and he sprang into a sprint backwards. Rita's sludge bomb fired toward the area Yena was in, and the sludge bomb collided into the ground, exploding into a pool of viscous poison. Thankfully Yena had gotten away in time to avoid the sludge bomb and was currently running in a continuous sprint around the battlefield. Veronica's smirk lessened slightly, as she wondered what I was up to, but she remained confident at first. Doing as she was trained, Rita began to prepare and fire off sludge bomb after sludge bomb at Yena who continued racing around, avoiding each detonation of the attack. Yena was avoiding the attacks completely thanks to his ability as a Poochyena. See Poochyena have a habit of picking countless fights, and whenever something too strong for them fights back, they run away immediately. Because of this, they developed the ability "run away" which allows them to flee from battle with ease. As such, Yena's running abilities were second to run, he could effective outrun Rita's attacks better than he could dodge them. I'm not sure of Veronica caught on to the full details of my plan, but she certainly understood that Yena's movement made things difficult for her and Rita. Her smirk fell lower and lower with each botched sludge bomb, and she started coming up with another strategy.

"Spread it out, Rita. Get it in a wild barrage." She commanded calmly. 

Rita began to discharge sludge bomb after sludge bomb in a wild flurry, there was no aiming or calculation, only a series of fired attacks that coated our half of the arena. Yena's continuous running kept him moving fast enough to narrowly avoid the attacks and escape their explosion range. It was a wild strategy, but it kept me too on edge to think of a proper plan. She had made me waste the time I thought I had bought for myself. I kept trying to wrack my brain for an idea to turn this situation around, but I was too worried about missing something to think properly, and I failed to notice something important. As the sludge bomb cascade continued, Yena continued to move around the battlefield with great speed. 

Once I had calmed down, I thought Yena would be fine. He was running around and nimbly avoiding Rita's attacks with great ease, but as I thought that, Yena stopped running. He braced himself against the ground and skidded a few inches, stopping just before a pool of the liquid poison. That's when I realized what Veronica had done. I looked around the arena, and suppressed an audible gasp. The arena was covered in puddles of liquid poison that remained as toxic as they were previously. A noxious smell was starting to envelope the arena, and Veronica has us pinned.

"You got nowhere to run now, kid." She said confidently. 

My eyes darted around the arena looking for a way out, my head spinning with this challenge before me. There was no way Yena would be able to avoid another sludge bomb where he was. This was it, this was the end of the fight, it was over for us, I needed to call Yena back and forfeit otherwise he might seriously get hurt.

"Finish it off with one last sludge bomb Rita." 

As the little rose pokemon raised its appendages into the air, I reached down to retrieve Yena's Pokeball. I had unclipped it from my belt when Rita turned back toward Veronica and shook its head. 

"Out of sludge bombs huh? alright, an energy ball should be good enough then." Veronica told her Pokemon. 

It was a small thought then, a funny little realization that entered my mind. _"Oh yeah, roselia is also a grass type"_. Once that little thought clicked in my brain, the last piece of the puzzle fit into place, and I clipped Yena's pokeball back onto my belt. It was a risky choice, but it was a chance, and I wanted to take that risk. My eyes darted around the battle field, looking for the smallest gaps through the pools of poison. Thankfully, there was one, just small enough for a little guy like Yena to make it through. 

"Yena! on the right! Run there!" I commanded. 

Yena sprang up, utilizing his "run away" to move out of the way just in time as Rita's energy ball sailed right past him. The path that Yena was on took him closer to Rita, there were less sludge pools around her which made it easier for Yena to build up speed. 

"Get behind it, Yena!" I called out. 

"Follow it, Rita don't let it get behind you!" Veronica countered. 

Yena strafed around the roselia, darting around the the noxious pools. As he did so, Rita turned to face him, making sure not to let Yena get behind her. As Yena got closer, Rita started to back up away from him, in the direction he had come from. Yena was now on the opposite side of the Arena, closer to Veronica than Rita was and Rita had moved closer to the center, towards our side. I didn't even bother to hide a determined smirk as everything had fallen into place. Veronica read my expression and looked around. She looked at the position of both Yena and Rita, and realized what I was up to far too late. 

"Yena! Now, use tackle!" I called out to him. 

"Rita! stun spore! now!" Veronica called out desperately.

Yena sprinted across the arena towards Rita at a rapid speed, preparing himself to tackle Rita. Rita began to shift her rose like appendages and a faint yellow-ish powder began to spill from her petals. I had not anticipated this, and was now much more afraid. I had to put all my faith in Yena and hope that he could make it through this. He darted towards Rita as she shot a small stun spore cloud right in Yena's path. He plowed right through the stun spore and I watched it take effect, his movements slowed slightly and one of his front paws twitched. I looked at him, and clenched by fist nervously, hoping he could make it through.

He did. Yena powered through the stun spore attempting to paralyze him as he moved, it was a moment of pure willpower from this little Pokemon known for running away from hard fights. Veronica's eyes went wide as Yena made to Rita, time slowed as he was now no more than 10 centimeters from Rita's body. He lowered his head and slammed his body into the other Pokemon. His attack had been powered up by numerous howls over the course of the fight, so the attack was strong. However, we both knew it wouldn't be enough to knock out Rita, but my plan had taken that into account to. Rita flew backward, thrown by the force of Yena's tackle. Veronica watched in anger as Rita sailed backward and landed directly in one of the sludge pools Rita had created earlier. The little rose pokemon let out a weak cry as its own poison made parts of its grassy body wilt. Rita shook and twitched, attempting to stand up as its strength was drained, eventually it stopped fighting, and Rita fainted. The energy ball from eariier had reminded me, roselia was a grass type, and poison was more effective against it than most would expect.

Veronica and I stood silent for a moment. There was a triumphant smile on my face, sweat dripped down by head and my breathing was rough. I was high on the sensation of battle and victory. Veronica's face had drained, the energy was gone and she stared unbelieving at the situation. I had one. 11 years old, two against one, with a poochyena, and I had beaten her. She was speechless. 

"Ding ding ding... wow, now that was an exciting match. Grunt Adrian, congratulations, you are the winner." Admin Vaughn stood up, clapping his hands.

I heard more applause and looked over, everyone in the stands was standing up, clapping at the fight. Liam had to stand further away than the others, but he was clapping too. It was my first time battling for an audience, and my first public victory, it filled me with a sensation that I never knew previously, and was the moment I solidified my decision to join Team Rocket. Veronica held up her pokeball and called back Rita, she looked at me and frowned, but she didn't bother trying to intimidate me or glare at me, she just looked... distant, and she walked out of the arena. Yen ran out of the arena bounds to get around the sludge pools and ran towards me with wicked speed. I leaned down to catch him and he leapt up into my arms. He licked my face with so much energy and joy, looking for my affection and praise. Of course, I gave it to him in spades. I pet him over and over and and pressed my face into his, it was a beautiful sight.

I stood up, taking Yena and leaving the arena. Admin Vaughn sat back down and lifted up his clipboard. 

"Now that, someone seems to be better, its time to continue." He raised his hand.

"Round three: Liam vs Minerva, get in the ring!"


	4. Temporary Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Veronica and Adrian's heart-pounding battle, Adrian has emerged victorious thanks to his quick thinking and his partner Yena's determination. Veronica, a mysterious and beautiful woman with a toxic personality faces her defeat at the hands of a child. How she'll react beyond this moment is unknown, but it can safely be said that she is not happy. Now that their battle has concluded, how will the next one turn out.

"Round three: Liam vs Minerva, get in the ring!"

"...Is what I'd like to say..." Admin Vaughn added. 

Minerva and Liam had already stood up and were about to head to the arena. Now they both stood still looking towards Vaughn.

"As much as I'd like to continue the battles as quickly as possible... it looks like the arena isn't in the best shape for that..." he continued in a disgruntled tone.

Admin Vaughn pointed at the battlefield. Sure enough it was still covered in pools of liquid poison and the dirt on the field was uneven thanks to all of Yena's sand-attacks. Looking at it, it would certainly be difficult to have a proper battle on that field. 

"Everyone take a break. You four, there's a repurposed restoration machine over on the wall there, use it." Admin Vaughn said.

He pulled a pokeball from his hip and threw it into the air above the arena. The room shook beneath our feet as a large, muscular horse Pokemon landed on the ground of the Arena. I hadn't seen a Pokemon like that back then, so watching it appear before me like it did held my attention for some time. It was a mudsdale, a horse like Pokemon that was discovered in Galar but brought to many other regions, including Alola, where it thrives. Mudsdale is a very physically strong and defensive Pokemon that has large and powerful hooves that allow it to traverse difficult terrain with ease. It's a Pokemon that evolved to use dirt to create a special kind of mud that was both durable and efficient as a building material. Because of that, mudsdale mud is often used as a building material even to this day. I watched then as Admin Vaughns mudsdale moved about the wrecked battlefield, kicking up dirt and sand and turning it into mud. It moved through the pools of poison with ease, quickly dispelling them and mixing the diluted poison into the terrain. Mudsdale wasn't even effected by the poison, not only because, as a ground type, it wasn't very effective against it, but because of the powerful mud barrier around its hooves. While he took a break, the mudsdale worked the field, it seemed used to fixing the arena, and moved about it with ease and expertise.

I was so entranced with the mudsdale moving about the arena that I failed to notice that the others finished treating their Pokemon with the restoration machine. Hunter tapped me on the shoulder and I jumped in place, shaken from my hyper fixation. I turned towards him and he pointed towards the far wall where Veronica was currently waiting on the machine to finish healing her zubat and roselia. She was still pretty angry, but it was a quiet seething anger. But it was enough that I wanted to keep my distance until she had finished healing all of her Pokemon and left it alone. She finished up at the machine and I waited for her to get a fair distance away before I approached the machine. As I approached the machine, it became very apparent that I had no idea what I was doing. I had been to Pokemon centers before, but it wasn't like the Nurse Joys let you operate the machine yourself, especially if you're a kid. I slid Yena's pokeball into one of the slots on the machine, but I had no idea how to operate the buttons. The screen flashed and displayed various different words and phrases that I read but didn't understand. Things like energy levels, health values, number of Pokemon, etcetera. All the words on screen flashed and no matter how often I read over them, none of them seemed to stick in my little eleven year-old mind. Yena had gotten hurt a lot but he wasn't unconscious, so I tried to set the machine to something appropriate, but didn't understand how to. As I struggled to operate an arguably super easy to operate machine, someone walked up behind me and leaned over my shoulder. From the deep violet painted fingernails, I could tell that the person behind me was Veronica, my prior opponent, and an intimidating figure. I froze again, not wanting to turn around and see her, hoping that if I ignored her that she would leave me alone. Because of that, I was able to watch her hand move around the screen with practiced ease and quickly adjust the machine's settings. I stood there, surprised and confused by her help.

"You only have one Pokemon in the machine. If you don't adjust it to the size of your party and their strength level, you'll waste the machine's power and overload your mutt's body. It won't be lethal but it also won't be pretty." She told me. 

She pressed the start button and the machine started up. A little display brought up an icon of a poochyena and displayed a little half-filled yellow bar next to it. The yellow bar began to fill in and turned green, just as the jingle of the Pokemon center restoration machines started playing from the "re-appropriated" machine next to us. It blinked with light, a signal that it was currently healing my Pokemon. As it did so, Veronica leaned back away from the machine and pulled her hand back from over my shoulder. I turned around slowly to look at her. She looked at me with a stern gaze as she looked down on me. In a literal sense, I kicked her ass so badly that she would have looked like a fool if she acted high and mighty still. I looked silently at her with an awkward and intimidated look on my face. It continued for some time until I heard her click her tongue at me.

"Tch, didn't anyone ever teach you how to say thank you?" She spat. 

"Ah! Th-thanks... for your help." I stuttered.

I'm not going to pretend I wasn't a little shit then, but even still, Veronica terrified the crap out of me, at least initially. After I said my thank you, she turned around and walked away from me, and I remember wondering why she was so adept at handling a restoration machine. I would soon find out why that was the case, but I'll get to that later.

After I watched her walk away, I turned back to find that the machine had already finished healing Yena. I pulled his pokeball from the machine and checked in on him, he seemed to be doing well. I returned him to my new, standard issue Rocket belt and started walking back toward the seats. My fellow Rocket Grunts were engrossed in conversation. All except for Minnie, who just sat quietly and listened to everyone else speak, and Veronica who was stewing by herself a few seats away. As I approached the seating area, Liam turned towards me and gestured for me to come closer.

"Yo kid! That battle was awesome! You said your name was Adrian or somethin, right?!" Liam asked. 

"Yeah that's me." I answered awkwardly, it was strange to see someone Liam's age excitedly praising someone my age.

"Man, when Veronica pulled out that zubat and was like "sand-attack won't work on a Pokemon with no eyes" I thought you were fucked." Liam explained. 

"Language!" Hunter warned Liam. "Don't swear like that around a kid!"

"Oh shit! sorry!" Liam smirked. 

Hunter pressed his fingers against both of his temples in frustration at Liam, but then looked to me. 

"Good work Adrian, you've got a clever brain, more than you see from a lot of trainers." He nodded. "I should know." 

"When you got back into the groove, it definitely seemed like you were in your element." Jolyne commented at Hunter. 

"Maybe, It's been too long though, and I fell back into my old cocky attitude from when I was younger." He sighed.

"I'll say, I can definitely tell you were a "Bug Catcher" back then!" Liam chuckled. 

"Is it really that obvious?" Hunter sighed again and he looked embarrassed. 

"Well it doesn't help that you only used bug pokemon." Liam shrugged. "Pretty easy to figure out your old Trainer Class from that.

"Trainer Class?" Jolyne asked.

Everyone looked to Jolyne quizzically, before we all remembered that Jolyne wasn't a trainer like all of us before joining Team Rocket. 

"Ah, a Trainer Class is a sort of an unofficial classification of trainers with a certain motif." Hunter explained. "Not every trainer has one, but those who do... well its pretty easy to tell."

"I see, what kind of motif dictates a Trainer Class?" Jolyne asked. 

"It varies, the motif can be outfit related, personality, profession or even just what pokemon type you specialize in." I interjected. 

"Yeah! Like Adrian said!" Liam started. "It's hard to tell now, but surprise, surprise, I used to be a "Biker"!" Liam puffed out his chest and stood proudly. 

Everybody else collectively exchanged glances and we all nodded with the same thought. _"Yeah that makes sense"_

"But I trashed my bike so my old crew kicked me out. So now I'm here, gonna get some extra cash to get a new bike!" Liam proudly explained. 

We all nodded, none of us really understanding the motivation completely but understanding enough to know something like this was important to Liam. But there was also some hesitation in his eyes that was disconnected from his words, something he wasn't going to tell us just yet. 

"So, what Trainer Class would I have?" Jolyne asked curiously. 

"Well, off of the top of my head, I would probably say Lass." Hunter replied. 

"Lass? As in just... girl? Seems pretty basic." Jolyne said, disappointed. 

"I mean, yeah it is, but you're still new to battling. Its not like you have to stick with one Trainer Class forever anyway. Its unofficial, if you make changes to your battling persona, your Trainer Class will change with you." Hunter continued. 

He turned around towards Veronica and called out to her. "Hey Veronica was your Trainer Class "Beauty" before?"

"You're goddamn right!" Veronica called back. 

"Language!" Hunter warned. 

"Go fuck yourself, wash-up!" She bit back. 

Hunter tried to smile weakly while he glared back at Veronica, but he let it go and turned his attention back to us. Oddly, my attention shifted to Minnie, who had been quiet this whole time and decided to ask her a question, hoping to learn more about her. 

"So Minerva, what Trainer Class were you?" I asked her. 

She was quiet for a moment, staring at the dusk ball in her lap with unblinking focus. We all went quiet, waiting to see how/if she would respond to the question, and we were all becoming unnerved by the silence. A cracked smile shot through her face and I felt a cold sweat drip down my forehead. 

"I never fully committed to it...." She began. "But I wanted to be... a "Hex Maniac"... appropriate... isn't it?" she answered then asked slowly. 

"Yeah." Liam, Hunter and I answered and gulped at the same time. Jolyne, who didn't know what that was, looked confused. 

"What about.... you.... Adrian?" Minnie asked me. 

Her eyes shot towards me first, then she turned her head toward me so quickly that I could've sworn I heard her neck crack. She stared at me with such an intense curiosity that my mind went blank trying to process the question. It was then that I noticed that her eyes were a strange purple color. The tell tale signs of a person who dips into darker spiritual practices. But I didn't know it at the time. I just thought they were pretty. 

"Yeah, Adrian, what's yours? Liam asked me, also curious, but less intense. 

My mind refocused on the question and my head wandered places, going back to some, unpleasant memories. I went to say it, to say my old intended Trainer Class, but as I opened my mouth I got caught on the first sound and froze. And I sat there, keeping the others waiting with my inability to answer the question. It was a simple question with a simple answer, and yet I just sat there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot because the past haunted my being. I remember two voices shouting in my head, both telling me to answer them. The first was my voice, shouting at me to just tell them I didn't have one yet, or that I didn't care, but to tell them something. The second voice was a familiar one, one that I didn't want to hear, and I froze as the voice shouted and rang through my skull. 

"Adrian? You okay?" Hunter asked, concerned. 

"Huh? Oh yeah, its just... well its a little embarrassing." I responded. "I... wanted to be an Ace Trainer."

Liam and Hunter paused and looked at each other awkwardly, in the distance I caught a glimpse of Veronica, who shared their expression. Jolyne was still confused, hoping for an explanation. 

"Well, you certainly had a lofty goal." Hunter chuckled politely. 

"Yeah little dude, bein an Ace Trainer is hard. You gotta be wicked good." Liam answered. 

"I don't know, after seeing how he fought earlier, he might have made it." Hunter continued. 

"So Ace Trainers are really strong?" Jolyne asked. 

"Outside of gym leaders and other league officials? Best of the best." Hunter answered. 

I sighed with relief quietly, content with being seen as a "dreamer" in the eyes of the others. They were satisfied with my answer, except for Minnie, who kept staring at me intently, until she turned her head towards the arena, just as Admin Vaughn called out to us. 

"Your old Trainer Classes don't matter anymore because now, as long as you wear those uniforms or the Rocket insignia, you're all "Rocket Grunts"." He said to us. 

We turned towards him and nodded to him with respect and understanding. Though we were all rookies, we all knew it would behoove us to fall in line where it was necessary. 

"Alright. the arena's been reset, so now we can continue. Liam, Minerva, you're up, let's go!" He called out. 

Liam and Minnie stood up and started heading towards their places in the arena. I settled into my seat and got ready to watch the next match. When Minnie walked by my seat, she stopped in place, and before I could figure out why, he head snapped towards me and had moved closer. Her eyes were maybe 6 inches from mine, even though I had leaned back in my seat. She stared intensely into my eyes and sent a shiver down my spine, I wanted to ask what she wanted from me, but I couldn't find the words. Then, she spoke:

"Who you are is not dictated by others... You are who you choose to be..." 

I was frozen, unsure of what to do as she stared through me into the core of by being. The eyes are a gateway to the soul but hers were locked, and mine were wide open to her in that moment. Time to seemed to stop and my blood ran cold as each sound that escaped her crooked lips passed through my ear and shook my mind. A few seconds passed, and Minnie then left me alone, still reeling from the intensity of her gaze. I sat there, wondering what she meant, though deep down I knew exactly what and who she was referring to. 

Admin Vaughn walked back over to his seat and picked up his clipboard, he flipped through the pages until he found the right one and uncapped his pen.

"Alright, interruption over, its time to get back to it. Now once more... ahem" He cleared his throat. 

"Round three: Liam vs Minerva, get in the ring!"


	5. Liam Vs. Minerva

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a short break to reset the battle field and grant everyone a moment's rest, the Rocket Grunts prepare to witness the fighter between Liam and Minerva. How will the former biker fare against the girl who's got a lot going on under the surface?

"Round three: Liam vs Minerva, get in the ring!" Our admin called out. 

The two took their old battle stances as we all did before. Liam spun around, pivoting on his heel and immediately squatting down. He dramatically looked over his shoulder with an intense glare. His history as a delinquent biker was definitely showing through here. He gripped his pokeball and tossed it back up over his shoulder into the air behind him, it sailed up further than one would have expected with such a throw, a testament to his practice battling in such a pose. Minnie pulled out her pokeball and held it in both of her hands. She gently lowered her hands and brought them up lightly lobbing it into the air. From our perspective we could tell there was no way a weak toss like that could get much height. In some regard we were right, Minnie's toss reached its apex just barely at eye level and half a foot away from her. But instead of falling to the ground, it froze in mid air, and did not move. We all shared a sense of unnerving seeing it happen. A second after it went still in the air, it floated toward the battle field at an eerily steady pace. Both Liam and Minnie's pokeballs opened up

The light of the data to matter conversion process propelled the Pokemon onto the battlefield, revealing the two Pokemon mentioned previously. From Liam's pokeball came a geodude, the rock type Pokemon with two appendages made out of rock attached to its rock shaped body. It was considered, quite literally, the epitome of rock type Pokemon, embodying everything thing rock types represented visually, biologically and personality. It looked like a rock, and was just as stubborn and just as hard as one, boasting an incredible durability to physical attacks. It's defensive capabilities made it a tough fight to any Pokemon that fought directly.

The other Pokemon, on the other hand, was of a different sort. Rather than a flash of light from the pokeball, a gathering of dark miasma slithered out of the ball and reformed into a ghostly shape. Shuppet, a Pokemon named after its doll-like appearance. It closely resembled a child's attempt to create a puppet that looked like a ghost, which added a layer of irony to the Pokemon. Then again, maybe children learned how to make those little ghost puppets from seeing a shuppet. Shuppet aren't very strong Pokemon, but like all ghost Pokemon, their abilities are direct and unnerving, often hitting you regardless of how you protect yourself. They had an affinity for attacks that weakened opponents, they were quite sinister maybe that's why I liked them too, they were very similar to dark type Pokemon.

It was hard to say who would win the match up, neither side had a type advantage over the other, but I knew shuppet was a Pokemon that specialized in physical attacks along with its evolved form, banette. Considering the defenses of rock type Pokemon, things didn't look good for Minnie, especially since she was fighting 2 to 1. But I would be an idiot if I believed numbers would be the deciding factor considering the victory I barely managed to pull out from the last battle. The question was still in the air, and I watched every second of it readily. 

Minnie raised her hand to her shuppet, Dollie and let out some barely audible and disturbing series of sounds that just barely sounded like vague whispering. If she gave out all of her commands like that, Liam would be in for a serious challenge, like in the previous battle, not hearing a command makes it difficult to prepare for it. Dollie the shuppet let out a noise that sounded like nails on a chalkboard, immediately, little floating blue flames appeared around its body and shot towards Liam's geodude. 

"Shit! Roadblock, brace yourself!" Liam called out.

I heard Aria snort at the geodude's nickname, just as the will-o wisps slammed into its body, leaving scorch marks. A burn had been applied to geodude, an incredibly smart move on Minnie's part. Like that, I began to see how she could get around this geodude's defenses with little issue. Will o wisp is a move that applies burns to its target if the hit lands. With a burn, geodude would take damage every turn from the untreated wound, and on top of that, its attack power would be reduced. Guess it's hard to directly attack something when you've got a constant source of pain preventing you from exerting yourself.

Liam furrowed his brow and looked like he was desperately trying to think, and thinking was something he usually didn't do. He really was an open book, an incredibly straightforward person. Honestly that's why Pokemon like geodude were perfect for him. They were pretty straightforward themselves. 

"Alright Roadblock, use rock throw on that thing!" Liam ordered. 

Roadblack the geodude dug its hand into the dirt of the arena and lifted up ward, the soil beneath it formed into a solid rock form in an instant and with a large heave, Roadblock hurled the rock directly at Dollie. Just before the swing reached its apex, the geodude cringed in pain from its burn, weakening the throw. The small ghost Pokemon attempted to dodge the attack but if it were that easy geodude wouldn't be effective. The stone caught the ghost on her side and Dollie was injured decently, but thanks to Roadblock's burn, the damage wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. 

_"Night Shade"_ Minnie creaked. 

The eyes of the shuppet flickered a sinister red color and looked deep into Roadblock's eyes. A matching red light flickered in Roadblock's eyes and he let out a cry of pain. Night Shade is a move that imparts a painful illusion into the opponents mind and deals damage that scales with the user's level of strength. Outside of moves designed to protect against all moves and being a normal type, there was not way to buffer one's self against the damage. If the attack landed, it was going to do the same damage every time. It couldn't benefit from any boost to attack power but it eliminated the threat of strengthened defenses or lowered attack power. It could be incredibly more effective on Pokemon that were more defensively inclined than offensively. Granted shuppet is a more offensively oriented Pokemon in general, but I didn't know that back then, that was the first time I learned about strategies like that.

The geodude shook itself to try and erase the image implanted into it from its mind. But just as the phantom pain from its mind faded, it shook with pain and gripped its burn, the constant effect of the burn was taking its toll. Even as hard Roadblock's body was, Dollie's attacks had easily brought it to its nonexistent knees. It was still unclear between the two trainers who would win the overall fight, but it looked like this match up was pretty much decided. Especially considering Liam's battling style. I felt sorry for the geodude, it was getting a proper chance to show off its abilities. 

"Oh! I just remembered, this move might work better! RB! Use Brutal Swing." Liam called out.

I swear I heard a cracking sound as Minnie's eyes widened when he said that. I can't blame her for being alarmed, she probably didn't expect Liam to have taught his rock Pokemon a dark type move. Roadblock fought through the pain as best it could and jumped up at Dollie the shuppet. It cringed again from the pain of its burn but still managed to deliver a powerful attack with the swing of its arm. The force of the blow sent the little ghost flying backwards toward Minnie. Liam smiled confidently, getting cocky with that surprise move, Minnie responded by muttering disturbing curses under her breath and staring daggers at Liam and Roadblock. Roadblock then shuddered in pain from its burn. Then her face shifted, she continued to stare daggers at the other two, but her gritting teeth turned into another cracked smile. 

"Dollie... beneath the arena, go and use Rest." Minnie commanded.

Dollie the shuppet followed the command of her trainer and dove towards the ground. Upon reaching contact, its form shifted and it phased into the ground below. It was a smart move, all things considered, but using it in an official battle was likely to get you banned. But since this wasn't an official battle, just about anything went here. Many ghost Pokemon like shuppet could pass through solid objects like it was nothing. So Minnie had Dollie phase into the ground to safely use the move Rest to regain its vitality. Usually using Rest leaves you asleep and vulnerable after using it, so she made use of the fact that Dollie was a ghost type and could hide in the ground itself.

"Oi! That's not fair! Hey!" Liam called out.

"May I remind you that you joined a world wide criminal organization, Liam? We're criminals." Admin Vaughn called out in response to Liam's cries.

"Grrh! Damn it!" Liam cursed. 

Minnie stood across the battlefield, satisfied with herself in her own unique and creepy way. It was a bit of a scummy tactic, but it was one I could appreciate as someone who liked scummy tactics, who still likes scummy tactics. But unfortunately for Minnie, Liam repeated the process of revealing an attack that upended her strategy. He furrowed his brow for a few minutes before his face lit up with realization. 

"That's it! Hey RB! Hit em with a Magnitude!" he commanded. 

Minnie's entire body shifted and seemingly cracked with exasperation as Liam pulled this sudden gut punch on her. By hiding Dollie in the ground she had inadvertently damned herself. The move magnitude struck with varying levels of power that changed every time the move was used, and it dealt double damage to creatures that were underground at the time of its use. So even with a burn on Roadblock, Dollie would take a lot of damage. The geodude leapt into the air and brought its arms together, kind of like it was doing a cannonball. It reached the apex of its junk and began to sail downward with rapid velocity. From the point of impact, a shockwave erupted through the ground outward and rocked the battle field. We all waited in anticipation of the force of the move, however upon its completion we felt very little. Liam rolled the dice on the move Magnitude but Roadblock only managed to unleash a level 4 attack. And with a burn on top of that, its no wonder we barely felt it, but Dollie must have felt more, because Minnie was chewing her nails like she wanted to murder them.

"It's okay RB, that one was kinda weak but I know the next one won't, we've got her now." Liam smirked.

Minnie continued biting her nails and looking like a living nightmare. Suddenly, her sinister, angry expression lifted and she started to smile again. I didn't notice why at first, and neither did Liam.

"Okay the creepy smile is back, let's not give her the chance. Roadblock, use Magnitude again!" He called out.

Liam gave his command, but his geodude did not respond. It sat on the ground unmoving.

"RB? hey buddy what's going on?" Liam asked his Pokemon.

As he looked at his still partner, the geodude known as Roadblock slumped to the side, it had fainted. 

"Wh-what the hell? RB? what happened?" Liam asked. 

"The Burn." Minnie called out to him.

Minnie's attempt to stall for time had worked out for her, Roadblock's burn was damaging it all these turns and weakening it throughout the battle. But Liam hadn't been able to notice how weak Roadblock was getting. It's hard to tell when something is weak and short of breath when its made out of solid rock and doesn't breath. Liam's excited expression fell sour and he snarled in annoyance. 

"Damn it!" He shouted.

Liam thrust out Roadblock's pokeball and called back the rock type. As he did so, the ghostly form of Dollie the shuppet rose out of the ground, a little beaten from that previous magnitude, but otherwise alright. The former delinquent and biker looked incredibly annoyed, not just by his defeat but by his complete lackluster defeat. His type could accept a loss provided he felt it was earned, but losing a hardy Pokemon to a status effect rarely went over well, especially since he didn't notice how bad it had gotten. He reached for his second pokeball and pulled it out, a determined expression rocked his face and he hurled the ball into the air. Once again a surge of light cascaded onto the battlefield and formed into the shape of a Pokemon. This time, of a taller more solid rock type. The Pokemon nosepass arrived on the field. I appeared facing the wrong direction with a ferocity before turning to face Minnie and Dollie. Nosepass often face North at the start of a battle. Liam's expression was fierce as usual, but from his sterner brow, I could tell that Liam was trying to think hard. With both Pokemon on the field, the battle had begun once more.

"Dollie, will o' wisp" Minnie commanded.

The small cloth-like ghost type Pokemon summoned several small eerie flames once more. The little ghostly blue flames darted toward the stoic nosepass and took hold, inflicting the rock type with the same curse as Roadblock. The unfortunate part for Minnie and Dollie, was that the attack reducing effect of the burn condition would be of little help in that fight.

"Alright Knows-it-all, use Shock Wave!" Liam called out.

"The stern, emotionless form of the nosepass began to vibrate and raised its arms, little white bolts of static formed around its body, growing larger and large until its body crackled with shocking force. The Pokemon discharged the electricity coating its body, launching it across the field and striking at Dollie the shuppet, unhindered by the burn on its body. The burn condition reduces the effectiveness of physical attacks, but against special attacks, it did nothing. Dollie took the full brunt of the attack and was looking rough Shuppet wasn't a pokemon built for taking hits and it had taken many. And after that scare from geodude, Minnie didn't look like she was going to risk trying to hide underground again. Honestly speaking it was a good idea, considering the ground her was only packed dirt on a metal floor, trying to hide from another shock wave in the ground probably wouldn't have worked, the electricity wouldn't have dissipated as well. Dollie wouldn't survive another attack like that, Minnie needed to come up with a plan, and that's when we learned one of her favorite contingencies.

"Dollie..." Minnie mumbled her words again at a volume only Dollie could hear.

A dark shadow exited Dollie's mouth and flew across the battlefield, taking hold in Knows-it-all the nosepass. We all waited with bated breath for something to happen, but nothing did. Back then I hadn't seen that move before, and as such, I was at a loss. Liam, sensing an opportunity, made the move that sealed the outcome of the match.

"One more time, Shock Wave!" He called out. 

Electricity sparked and coated the form of the nosepass once more, racing across its body with building intensity. The charge built up to a breaking point and was fired outward, targeting the other Pokemon on the field and making contact easily. Shock Wave was a move that never missed after all. Dollie the shuppet let out a pathetic cry and fell to the ground. Liam crossed his arms and looked triumphantly at the results of his work. 

"Alright! that's how its done!" Liam cheered.

"Ding ding ding... we have a winner." Admin Vaughn called out.

"Hell yeah we do!" Liam started gloating. His behavior was embarrassing enough for a young man who just beat a child in a Pokemon battle, but it was made even more embarrassing by the next few minutes.

"Congratulations Minerva, well fought." Vaughn started scribbling lazily on his clipboard.

"What? Minerva? What the fuck? I'm the one who won." Liam protested.

"Did you?" Vaughn asked.

"Yeah! I took down her Pokemon and I still got... mine?" Liam's declaration faltered once he looked at his nosepass. 

The rock type Pokemon went silent and stood there, unable to collapse and fall over due to the shape of its body. But it was unconscious. 

"What? What happened?!" Liam shouted.

"Destiny Bond, you oblivious loudmouth." Admin Vaughn sounded a little annoyed. "You don't need to care about your Pokemon to be a part of the organization, but try to keep aware of its status in battle."

"But... I do... care." Liam said weakly.

"Well you could have fooled me." Admin Vaughn turned away from the battlefield and walked over to the door, scribbling some things down. "Alright Grunts, to me!"

We all immediately jumped to our feet and ran towards our Admin in a serious manner, all except Liam who trudged over weakly. Instead of looking pissy like I expected him to, he looking more angry at himself. 

"Listen up. This concludes our battles for today. I've gotten a good idea of what you're all capable of now. And you are all capable enough to make it as full fledged members of Team Rocket." 

Though he spoke in a lax tone and didn't seem as invested in his words as he should have been, there was a charisma to him that kept us at attention and hanging on every word.

"As fully fledged members of the team, I now award you all with these." Admin Vaughn reached into his pocket and pulled out 6 small cases handing them out to all of us individually. "These... are your Rocket badges, they all identify you as Team Rocket grunts to other members. Keep them on you on missions."

I opened up my case and took a look at my badge, it was simple, but it was my first and only gym badge then. The little 11 year old me of the past was excited to have it. 

"Beyond testing your ability to be grunts, today's battles were about evaluating your skills, strengths, and flaws in battle. Knowing this will help determine your assignments. But that's all we have for you today. Your assignments will be given to you tomorrow, for now, go set yourself up in the resting quarters. You will be staying there for tonight. Do you understand, grunts?"

We all nodded in response. We all funneled out of the room and made our way to the resting quarters. That would be the first and last time we would all be together until... the Sootopolis incident.


End file.
